By default, after a search, the button indicates the FamPat Grouping. Your results are therefore organized in FamPat families. A FamPat family groups the different publication stages of the whole family members.
Questel has developed a definition of the family that combines the strict family rule of the EPO with complementary rules that permit us to take into account links with the EP and/or PCT, plus the links between US provisional application and US published applications.
The FamPat family takes also into consideration the notion of the invention definitions different according to offices, which is particularly useful for the search of Japanese publications.
You have the possibility of modifying the display of FamPat families asking the Extended grouping (grouping results by extended patent family) if your result don’t exceed the 5 000 FamPat families. This grouping is also available with the lists.
With this new grouping, you will reorganize your hitlist displaying the extended patent families. Extended families of your hitlists are built from your FamPat Families list and also of FamPat families outside your list but constituting an extended family.
An extended family groups all the documents that share at least one priority number. It includes also the result of divisions, continuations and continuations in-part.
When you display the extended patent families, the number of results always indicates FamPat families.
After a selection of extended families, you can export or duplicate the FamPat families contained in the extended families in lists or workfiles.
In the previsualisation tab (in hitlist view) and in the “biblio” tab (in document view), all the members of the extended family are displayed in the publication list (extended family).
The KWIC and citations tabs are not available.
To go back to a FamPat family grouping you need to select Grouped results by FamPat patent families.
When you select a grouping option the button becomes orange and its wording indicates the type of grouping.
The button can be accessed after you ask to display it in User Settings/Display.